Friday, April 2, 2010

Seeing the LA gang

Warning: lots of pictures on this post!



We had a wonderful visit with some family in LA last weekend. Thanks to Uncle Al and Aunt JoAnn for the GREAT visit! How we wish we lived closer so we could hang out more. After our drive down, we were going to take it easy one day before we headed to the San Diego Zoo, but Al encouraged us to try the mall-like area at Disneyland, instead of the full-on park, which we knew would be over our 2 1/2 yr old's head, so we went. Great fun!




I had to include this because of the incredible depiction of Indy and E's funny smile. Like she knew how cool it was to have her picture taken with lego-Indy!


The next day we made the drive south to the Zoo. It was totally worth it...even worth the horrendous traffic we got stuck in on the way back. The Zoo had so many animals to see that we could only get to about 1/2 of it, but that was plenty.






Jon got to show Kate the koalas, which were his favorite animal as a kid.




Kate loved the kids area, which had a petting zoo. She was a little wary of the goats at first, and didn't really want to touch any animals, but she loved seeing the sheep. She kept talking about their "dirty bottoms" all day. And if you ask her now to tell you about the sheep she saw at the zoo, she'll tell you the same thing.





When we asked Kate what she wanted to see at the zoo (before we got there) she said the monkeys, so we headed there first. These gorilla statues were on the monkey trail, and Kate kept wanting to go back to see and play on them.



Even Ellie got in on the action. (I think this picture is hilarious.) Yes, everyone, I let her crawl on the ground AND touch the germy gorilla statues! However, I did draw the line on her sucking their fingers.





And now to the main event! Here are the four kids when we got to hang out with Jon's cousin and her family. Again, we wish we lived closer!


Luke, Joe, Ellie and Kate. You should have seen how many pictures I took to get this one. And there were others where Luke looked so sweet but the others didn't. Sorry, Luke.






Hanging out with Aunt JoAnn.






Giving Uncle Al some little girl time.




JoAnn had these fun backpacks for the kids and Ellie actually liked wearing hers. After she chewed the tag off, of course.




Relaxing on the porch in the warm So Cal afternoon. We do miss warm weather up here in the central coast!




And the Jens!
Thanks again, to Uncle Al and Aunt JoAnn. We just loved seeing you and spending time with you. Sorry to take over your house...we have a tendency to do that when we go places. And thanks for all the fun spoiling of the girls and for watching them while we went out on our date! And to Jen, Gabe, Joe and Luke, thanks for coming up to see us. We loved seeing you guys too, even for just a short evening. As we were driving home, we were literally minutes from our driveway and Kate says, let's go back to Anaheim. We said, you want to turn around and drive all day AGAIN and go back? She said yes. Sorry, kid. Now she talks about the "next time I see Aunt JoAnn and Uncle Al." We love you!!






Last but not least, here's a picture of the beautiful wildflowers we saw on the drive. Because of all the rain, the flowers were out in abundance! It was gorgeous.


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

What fun, fun pics! You all had such fun w/ Aunt JoAnn + Uncle Al. What a treat. We know they LOVED seeing all of you. GREAT zoo photos. Jonathan did indeed LOVE the koalas...just Kate's age when we went there. He really liked the petting zoo, too, but he HAD to pet and feed all the animals...no hand sanitizer back then! Ellie and Kate look like they are having such fun! Love that you guys get out there and enjoy each place you live! Good for you. Thank you so much for sharing. Love, Gram+Pops

Anonymous said...

That same gorilla statue is at the Columbus zoo!

Shari Baker said...

At least you got close to Disneyland, but you are probably right, too much for little ones. I have been to that Lego store, it is cool! The Lego Indy must be new, but I remember seeing a Lego Darth Vader, and a huge Lego giraffe. I am glad that you all had fun!